FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT CABIN FEVER - PAGE 2

A letter from the North: "At my place it hasn`t been above -56. We are supposedly breaking all sorts of temperature records and boy, am I glad I didn`t miss it! "It is grim." The correspondence, sent to a cousin in Seattle, came from a transplant from Philadelphia spending her first winter in Fairbanks and experiencing a cold snap severe even by Alaskan proportions. Fairbanks and vicinity have been pounded with temperatures nearing 100 below with wind chill. Schools have been closed for the first time in a decade and heating oil has become as thick as jelly.

Neilson right at home, with or without a bike Roger Neilson won't have far to go to head home for a break from the daily training camp grind. Should he get the urge, Neilson can hop on his bike and head to his home in Peterborough, Ontario, site of the Panthers' camp. Neilson was known to ride his bike to practices in Pompano Beach last season but said it's unlikely he'll repeat it in Peterborough. Neilson started his career with a 10-year coaching stint with the Peterborough Petes, but the town is an out-of-the-way destination for most.

The ads are different and yet the same: "Unique log & stone cabins w/fireplaces nestled amongst towering pine & birch. Many activities or relax & unwind. No crowds. Excellent fishing." "Summer housekeeping cottages on Lake Michigan. Private beach, golf nearby. Rent by week or weekend." They are advertisements that sound particularly alluring, promising a little bit of rustic, a little peace and quiet, a big chance to get away from it all. For decades, spending a week or two in a cabin in the woods or a cottage on a lake has been the summer vacation of choice for many Midwesterners.

Listen up ladies. The Cabin Sports Bar, formerly known as The Idle Hour, invites you and your loved ones to celebrate Valentine's Day. You receive a rose as soon as you walk in the door of this friendly, neighborhood saloon. Plus there are free drinks for women between 9 and 11 p.m., and chocolate treats for all. And then there's the music. JC Rhythm is the name of the dynamic band performing tonight and every Friday. I saw the trio last week, when they had customers up on their feet and dancing in their seats as their music spilled from the lounge front to out on the patio.

Last week the Northeast was locked in by two snowstorms in a row. It was so bad that in the Washington area alone there were 347,987 reported cases of Cabin Fever. This was a typical case. The Porter family was stuck in their house for three days as the wind blew back and forth, producing three- and four-foot drifts of snow. Porter stationed himself in the living room where he maintained he could monitor weather bulletins much better. As we move in on him the newscaster has just announced, "Only those with essential jobs are required to report to their government offices today."

Like kids let out of school, South Floridians exploded from their homes -- some still without power -- into area stores Monday as malls and other retailers struggled to resume regular business. Merchants across the region hoped to recoup what was left of the Labor Day holiday's shopping, though some had better luck than others. Most Miami-Dade and Broward retailers opened, but many stores in Palm Beach County stayed shut as managers coped with flooding, downed trees and no electricity.

By RUSS BANHAM and A.E. CULLISON, Journal of Commerce, September 27, 1988

MISSOULA, Mont. -- For the workers at Real Log Homes`s manufacturing operation in Missoula, Mont., Abe Lincoln is alive and well. Except he`s living in Osaka, Japan. The gist of this story, which will seem as plausible as pagodas in Poughkeepsie, is this: Japan is going log wild over traditional, U.S.-style log cabins. "Shoot, the Japanese are crazy about log homes," says James Beaulieu, Real Log Homes general manager. "They`re even buying the traditional wagon wheel to half-bury out front."

Fare warning to taxi drivers: If you're called to pick up a passenger in Pasadena, be prepared to carry a suitcase. Your own. Cabbie Steve Baird found that out when Pat Fry summoned him for a ride to the beach - and ended up traveling to Victoria, British Columbia. The pair was back home on Monday from a nine-day, 3,128-mile odyssey in Baird's dusty Yellow Cab, which drew double-takes throughout the Pacific Northwest. The round-trip fare came to $4,100. Baird earned a 15 percent tip, plus meals and lodging.

Anxious to shrug Frances' lingering grip that yanked power from more than half a million customers, flooded neighborhoods, closed businesses and disrupted lives for three days, Broward residents slowly eased back into the mundane. By late Monday morning Frances' fierce presence was just a bad memory. Power was restored to more than half of 590,000 Broward businesses and households, and major roadways were cleared. But the effects of the storm still lingered. The Broward County Sheriff's department said it may attribute one fatal car accident in Tamarac to traffic light malfunction caused by the storms Saturday night.

--The video of Willie Nelson's duet with Irish singer Sinead O'Connor, Don't Give Up, is the first from Nelson's Across the Borderline album that is being released on the international market. The song was written by Peter Gabriel. -- The Marshall Tucker Band, presently in its 20th anniversary year, has just seen Cabin Fever Entertainment release a $14.95 75-minute commemorative video titled The Marshall Tucker Band - Then & Now. The video features previously unreleased footage of the group performing such classics as Can't You See and Heard It in a Love Song as well as the latest single, Walk Outside the Lines.